Pilots Say They Flew Assigned Altitude Before Crash (Update1)
By John Hughes
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Two U.S. pilots said they were flying at their assigned altitude of 37,000 feet when their small jet collided with a Brazilian airliner in September, killing 154 people in that country's worst aviation accident.
``We cannot leave our altitude without instructions from air-traffic control,'' pilot Jan Paladino said on the ``Today Show'' on NBC-TV. ``We were doing exactly what we were supposed to be doing.''
I don't see how having the transponder on or off would have caused the crash if they were flying at the assigned altitude. Yes, it may have helped the collision avoidance system, but there wasn't much time to react given the closing speeds involved.
The accident was a tragedy, but it is a miracle that one plane landed safely.
I'm probably naively repeating much of what has been said already, but my best wishes go out to everyone involved.